The Prelim is a test taken during the third year of the PhD program. The exam consists of a 2-hour oral exam on two fields, taken no later than January 31 in the third year.
When defining their fields, students are advised to delineate two broad areas in which they are committed to doing major research and teaching. Committee chairs and candidates should approach these fields as areas in which the candidate will need to be proficient in order to interview for jobs, to teach in their professionally defined area of expertise, and to do research during and after the dissertation period. The purpose of the fields exam is to assess such competence and to determine whether the student has or has not achieved it. Passing the exam will constitute a statement of qualification by the committee that is addressed to the student, to the department, and to the profession. Passing the exam will also qualify the student to proceed with the next stage of the program, namely the pre-prospectus and prospectus.
The student’s prelims committee should be interdisciplinary and composed of four members with at least:
- One member with a budgeted appointment in WGS but not English.
- One member with a budgeted appointment in English but not WGS.
- One member with relevant expertise from either department or who is jointly appointed in WGS and English.
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